Age-old Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An unnerving spiritual horror tale from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic dread when guests become subjects in a malevolent trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of continuance and primordial malevolence that will alter scare flicks this autumn. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric suspense flick follows five lost souls who suddenly rise sealed in a off-grid dwelling under the menacing sway of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a time-worn scriptural evil. Get ready to be seized by a filmic adventure that integrates raw fear with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest facet of the players. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the conflict becomes a ongoing battle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote woodland, five characters find themselves cornered under the fiendish aura and haunting of a mysterious spirit. As the youths becomes vulnerable to fight her rule, severed and pursued by terrors mind-shattering, they are driven to endure their inner horrors while the time unforgivingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and teams break, urging each cast member to examine their character and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost grow with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke pure dread, an entity before modern man, emerging via psychological breaks, and navigating a darkness that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers internationally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these ghostly lessons about our species.


For previews, production news, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. Slate blends biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Across survival horror saturated with biblical myth and onward to brand-name continuations and surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned plus calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors bookend the months by way of signature titles, in tandem SVOD players stack the fall with emerging auteurs and mythic dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is drafting behind the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming terror season: entries, new stories, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The fresh scare year builds at the outset with a January bottleneck, thereafter runs through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the discourse, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a grid that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with clear date clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and new packages, and a revived attention on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. The genre can premiere on open real estate, generate a easy sell for marketing and vertical videos, and outstrip with fans that line up on early shows and keep coming through the second weekend if the entry works. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup underscores faith in that dynamic. The year gets underway with a weighty January block, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and move wide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just pushing another installment. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a reframed mood or a talent selection that threads a next entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are leaning into tactile craft, real effects and grounded locations. That alloy gives 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a fan-service aware mode without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that blurs intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are marketed as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gnarly, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in historical precision and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival pickups, locking in horror entries toward the drop and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of limited theatrical news footprints and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not deter a dual release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind these films telegraph a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which align with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a lonely island as the control balance flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that leverages the fear of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, this content sonics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.